An amphibious vehicle is a motorized vehicle capable of travel on land as well as in the water. Such vehicles are known and are capable of providing transportation either in water or on land and are useful in areas where there are bodies of water, such as lakes, rivers, swamps, and the like, which need to be traversed. The amphibious vehicle allows its operator to travel across land and upon reaching the edge of a body of water, proceed into the water and continue on.
Many amphibious vehicles use a drive assembly, typically an assembly of wheels or caterpillar tracks that are fixed in position and cannot be retracted from the water during marine operation. The inability to remove the driving assembly from the water when the vehicle is traveling in the water means the amphibious vehicle cannot be operated at a high speed in the water because of the high drag caused by the submerged driving assembly. Maneuverability in the water is also compromised by the additional drag.
In my prior U.S. Pat. No. 7,950,973 for an Amphibious Vehicle, I show an improved amphibious vehicle which allows the track assemblies to be rotated between a lower position supporting the amphibious vehicle on land while providing propulsion to the vehicle on land and a raised position where the tracks rest vertically above the hull's deck during marine operation. With the caterpillar track assemblies fully removed from the water, the vehicle's performance and maneuverability are improved. The track assemblies are hydraulically driven to rotate the wheels and tracks between a lowered and a raised position. The present application is an improved drive system for the vehicle in this prior U.S. Patent and the contents of this earlier patent is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
In my prior U.S. Pat. No. 6,921,304 for an Amphibious Vehicle, I show an earlier improved amphibious vehicle which allows the track assemblies to be rotated between raised and lowered positions. In this prior patent the tracks are raised and lowered by a lifting mechanism which lifts the tracks and then pulls the tracks inward toward the hull of the vehicle using hydraulic rams. The lifting and pulling lifts the tracks into a fully upright position onto the hull to reduce the overall width of the amphibious vehicle to facilitate trailering.
The present invention is for an improved drive system for the amphibious vehicle as shown in my prior U.S. Patent and propels the vehicle in the water with a pair of water jet drives and propels the vehicle on land with a pair of track assemblies using an automatic transmission while using the same engine for both land and on water using a power transfer system from the output shaft of one of the engines.